Gaily Colored Monocycle on Sale

Hammacher Schlemmer is selling these gas-powered monocycles, capable of achieving shoe-melting speeds of up to 25MPH, for just $13,000. It's goofy enough to be beyond reproach and I'm not ashamed to say riding one looks like quite a bit of fun. And since they're not street legal, I don't think you have to worry about seeing too many people popping out to the store on these, a bag of groceries balanced gingerly on either side.
Catalog page [Hammacher.com via Crave.CNET.com]

There’s a guy who hand built one of these and rides it in Fourth of July parades. It looks wildly out of control and enticingly dangerous. He wears boots with roller-skate wheels on the bottom for stabilization.

Question: what happens when you brake too hard in one of those ? Answer: you start rolling head over ass with no hope of stopping unless by crashing into something. That’s why you’ll never see them ‘street legal’, unless you add external anti-roll wheels or a Segway-style internal stabilizer.

Not street legal? Since when did that stop anyone? Here in Colorado nothing under 50cc has to be licensed. These are only 31cc, so they actually have more freedom to go where ever they want (including driving on the sidewalk). The price will probably be more of a restriction than anything.

During the pocketbike craze I got absolutely sick of dodging assholes ignoring stop signs and such in neighborhoods because they thought the law didn’t apply to them. On the other hand this same licensing loophole lets people with Mopeds and scooters drive around cheaply and park on the sidewalks for free.

I’m surprised it even goes 25mph. Unless I’m missing something, the only thing that keeps the entire thing from rolling over when you hit the brakes is the weight of the motor and the rider. You wouldn’t be able to brake safely and quickly at the same time, making this a poor choice for street use.